· What new demands
and challenges is the agency likely to face in the foreseeable future?

· How will changes in
the scientific, statutory, economic, or social environments affect Forest
Service programs and policies?

· Should current
Forest Service policies and processes be revised to respond to changing circumstances?

ROLE:

· The role of Policy
Analysis is to be an objective observer. Our stance is that of a neutral
third-party - a group
without a dog in the fight. That posture is essential to maintaining PA's
credibility and utility to the organization.

· Policy Analysis
will both conduct analyses itself, using staff analysts, and serve as a
convener of analytic efforts involving personnel from a variety of programs
and areas. We will provide a corps of personnel with skills in designing and
conducting analytical processes. But, PA will frequently depend on personnel
borrowed from other units to help conduct projects. The result should be
corporate products that reflect a crosscutting, corporate vision.

CUSTOMERS:

· The ultimate
customer for policy analysis products is the agency itself, in the person of
the Chief.

· Other primary
customers are the Deputy Chiefs, Regional Foresters, Station Directors, Staff
Directors, and other Forest Service personnel.

· External customers
include all of the major constituencies of the Forest Service: Congress;
commercial users; interest groups; forestry professionals; the academic
community; and the media.

· The Policy Analysis
unit should be responsive to the needs of each of these customers, but we will
need to be highly selective in choosing which issues and projects to undertake.

SELECTING ISSUES / PROJECTS:

· We will need an
efficient process for: identifying potential questions for analysis; scoping
those questions; assessing their feasibility and utility; prioritizing; and
selecting a limited number of the most promising issues for analysis. It will
be important that our internal customers understand, accept, and take part in
this process so that the policy analysis effort serves the agency's needs, not
merely the unit's agenda.

· To that end, we are
forming an informal advisory committee representing our internal customers.

· The group should be
small enough to be efficient, but large enough to represent a number of
perspectives within the agency;

· The group will meet
two or three times a year, face-to-face or via conference calls;

· We will rely on the
committee to help us: review and prioritize proposed policy analysis projects;
review and critique policy analysis products; provide course-correction
feedback in the spirit of adaptive management; and ensure that policy analysis
efforts are addressing the needs of the agency as a whole.

· With advice from
advisory committee, Chief, and Deputy for P&L, design adaptive adjustments
in approach, role, or process to more closely meet agency objectives.

Selection Criteria:

Criteria for prioritizing and selecting projects for
policy analysis should address:

· Urgency --
Does the project address an issue of pressing importance to the agency?

· Utility- Does the inquiry
promise to yield results that will make a difference?

· Strategic Importance
- Does the question
address agency priorities under the Natural Resource Agenda or the Strategic Plan?

· Geographic scope
- Is it relevant to
a number of forests, regions, or states?

· Programmatic scope
- Is the project of
concern / benefit to several program areas or customer groups? Does it cut
across programs and Deputy areas?

· Feasibility
- Can the inquiry be
carried out with the resources available to us? Are the necessary data and
analytical tools available?

· Fiscal Implications
- Could the inquiry
improve the fiscal position of the agency?

· Originality
- Has the question
already been studied?

· Customers served
- Does the project
respond to a variety of customers or to our core customer, the Chief?

Outreach / Inreach:

Policy Analysis will work to develop and maintain
ongoing liaison with key interest groups, professional societies, and academic
leaders in resource management. We want to broaden the input into the
agency's consideration of policy issues. We need to be aware of current
concerns about Forest Service policy and contemporary trends in thinking about
natural resources, ecology, and management. And we hope to increase the
awareness of current FS policy direction among key external opinion leaders.

Policy Analysis will also attempt to maintain an active
network of contacts, cutting diagonally across the FS, to ensure that we are
in touch with current thinking about policy and its implementation from within
the agency. We need to be in contact with our colleagues and their concerns.
And we need to have the benefit of their thinking. We will look at a variety
of techniques: questionnaires; web sites; policy forums; informal networks;
etc. We also hope to recruit at least a couple of top notch people to come to
Washington for a year on detail to work in policy analysis -
keeping us in touch with the field and broadening
our network.